Now Commenting On:

Sutton earning spot in lineup

Sutton earning spot in lineup

By
/
|

MINNEAPOLIS -- Suddenly, Drew Sutton is a regular for the Indians.

That wasn't expected when Sutton was called up to the club last week, after Jason Donald went down with a bruised right index finger. But with Sutton performing well and Asdrubal Cabrera missing a couple days with a strained left wrist, Sutton has not only been in the lineup but in the No. 2 spot, which is where he hit for Wednesday's finale against the Twins.

The shortstop was 0-for-3 with one walk and scored a run in a 5-1 loss to the Twins.

"I'm just trying to have good at-bats," said Sutton, who was 7-for-20 in his first five games with the Tribe. "When you play a lot of different positions, you're just trying to make the routine plays and hopefully something good will happen on the tougher plays. I'm just trying to keep it as simple as I can, swing at strikes and have good at-bats."

The Indians plucked Sutton off waivers from the Reds last month after he became the victim of a numbers game in Cincinnati. He had appeared in 42 games for the Reds in '09, but the team had a glut of infielders.

After bouncing around between the infield and outfield at Triple-A Columbus, Sutton joined the Tribe when Donald, who will have another visit with hand specialist Dr. Thomas Graham on Thursday, went down. Cabrera was out of the lineup a second straight day after rolling his wrist in Monday's game and will also see Graham on Thursday, though his injury is not expected to keep him out much longer.